Southampton import question

[tokyotom]

Hi

I'm moving back to the UK from Japan in a couple of months and will be bringing back my '98 Cooper Sport. It's looking like this will be shipped in to Southampton so I'm after recommendations of a decent mini specialist not too far from the port so that I can get it MOT'd and registered when it arrives. I'd rather go to a mini specialist rather than a regular garage as it will need the rear fog fitting and a new windscreen (in addition to the km/h to mp/h speedo update). That said, if there's somewhere decent at the port itself then I'd be open to considering that instead.

I think I read somewhere that it's legal to drive from the port to the MOT test centre whilst the car is unregistered but if anyone has any experience of that I'd be keen to hear more.

Finally, since I have owned the car for over 6 months in Japan and it was originally manufactured in the UK I believe it should be tax exempt - if this is the case does anyone know what paperwork I would need to have in order to prove this? I have the original invoice for puchasing the car in Japan and records of my Japanese vehicle tax payments but I'm not sure what I would need to prove that it was a UK manufactured car - or is the fact that it's a Rover sufficiently obvious?

Any tips gratefully received

Cheers

Tom

[tokyotom]

Great, thanks both.

I didn't realise you could insure off the VIN so that's useful. Will also look into the tax exemptions as it seems likely I can get off on the basis that I've been resident in Japan for nearly three years, owned the car over 6 months and paid all applicable Japanese tax at the time of purchase.

I have to surrender my Japanese license plates on the dock in Yokohama so - although I understand its legal - I was unsure of the practicality of driving from Southampton to London with no license plates, hence the plan to try and book it in somewhere closer to the port - if anyone has any experience of driving without plates I'd be interested to hear.

Will definitely check out those garages - so thanks for the heads up.